Schedule

(Updated July 2, 2025)

Friday, September 26, 2025

3:00 pm   Check in begins at Stiklestad Lodge, Ft. Ransom, ND

5:00 pm   Drinks and Appetizers in Main Lodge

6:00 pm   Supper in Main Lodge

7:00 pm – Order, Due Process, and the Role of Conscience in Our Work in the Vineyards of Justice, Judge Ralph R. Erickson, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit - Main Lodge (1.0 hr. CLE – ND and MN credits applied for)

This talk by Judge Erickson will examine Russell Kirk’s idea that the deepest roots of American Constitutionalism lie in the tale of four cities: Jerusalem, Athens, Rome and London. From each, we have taken a pillar of the American Order upon which our whole constitutional stage rests. He will discuss the difference between law and order—and the role that each plays in creating a just society, as well as Hayek’s fundamental elements of Due Process in a legal system. With that groundwork, he will move to a moral discussion about the process of conscience formation in a legal or judicial practice, including the conflicting duties that require each of us to (A) have a well-formed conscience that operates in our professional lives and (B) to give that conscience sufficient deference to act courageously in times of uncertainty.

8:00 pm    Break  

8:15 pm    Night Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours (Chapel)

8:30 pm   Social Time

Saturday, September 27, 2025

7:30 am   Breakfast available until 8:30 am

8:45 am   Morning Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours (Chapel)

9:00 am – Living Faithfully in the Worlds of Lobbying, Lawmaking, and Judging – Main Lodge (1.0 hr. CLE - ND and MN credit applied for).

This panel discussion will explore the challenges and opportunities of working in the legal profession within three arenas where conflicts between law and faith may arise: lobbying, lawmaking, and judging. Scheduled panelists include David Tamisiea (Executive Director, North Dakota Catholic Conference), Jonathan Sickler (Senator, North Dakota Legislative Assembly), and Michael Hurly (Judge in the North Dakota Northeast Judicial District).

10:00 am  Break

10:30 am   Cultivating a Pro-Life Culture in a Post-Dobbs World Alexandra DeSanctis, Fellow, Ethics & Public Policy Center, Washington, DC - Main Lodge (1.0 hr. CLE – ND and MN credits applied for] This keynote address will cover abortion in the U.S. from a legal, political, and cultural perspective. Beginning with Griswold and Roe, the talk will explain what Justice Antonin Scalia called the "abortion distortion" in American jurisprudence while also covering contemporary policy matters and the ways in which abortion has shaped American culture.

11:30 am     Break

11:45 am  Midday Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours (Chapel)

12:00 pm   Lunch

1:00 pm   Free Time

5:00 pm   Confessions and Adoration (Chapel)

6:00 pm   Mass (Chapel)

7:00 pm   Supper

8:30 pm   Night Prayer from Liturgy of the Hours (Chapel)

8:45 pm   Social Time

Sunday, September 28, 2025

7:30 am   Brunch Available until 8:30 am

8:30 am  2025 Roundup on Religious Freedom in the United States – Michael S. McGinniss, Professor of Law & J. Philip Johnson Faculty Fellow, University of North Dakota School of Law – Main Lodge (1.0 hr. CLE – ND and MN credits applied for)

This program will review and provide opportunities to discuss the implications of key United States Supreme Court decisions from the 2025 term on religious freedom, including Mahmoud v. Taylor (involving the intersection of Free Exercise and parental rights in the public schools context) and Drummond v. Oklahoma Statewide Virtual Charter School Board (involving Free Exercise rights implicated by a state law excluding private religious schools from a state’s charter schools program solely because they are religious), as well as the State of Washington’s new law purporting to override the priest-penitent privilege in the context of mandatory reporting of child abuse.

9:30 am   Concluding Reflection – Main Lodge

9:45 am   Departures

Total CLE:  4.0 hours, ND and MN credits applied for